Professional Learning Seminar Series
Five from Five offers three free professional learning seminars. They are available either as scheduled webinars that anyone is welcome to attend or, when available, schools can book a presentation for whole staff professional learning either as a videoconference workshop or, depending on location, in schools.
Seminar 1: The Science of Reading: Essential Knowledge for Teachers
Seminar 2: Deep Dive into Systematic Synthetic Phonics
Seminar 3: Reading Fluency: Evidence-based Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention
Details and registration links are below
Seminar 1
The Science of Reading: Essential Knowledge for Teachers
- 90-minute information session for teachers and school-based professionals
- Insight into key research concepts and findings behind the Science of Reading
- Delivered by specialists in reading instruction, with content development led by Dr Jennifer Buckingham
- Offered as a public event or via school-based bookings
- Community education initiative of MultiLit
Reading is one of the most extensively studied aspects of education. There is now strong consensus among researchers about how children learn to read and the most effective method to teach them, based on thousands of rigorous scientific studies from multiple research disciplines.

Who should attend
This seminar is suitable for F-6 classroom and specialist teachers, school executive, and support staff as it examines the development of students from beginning to skilled readers.
What the seminar covers
This information session is designed to give teachers and other school-based professionals an introduction to the evidence base supporting effective reading instruction methods that will help all children learn to read.
The session examines:
- The multidisciplinary basis of Science of Reading
- The differences between code-based and whole language instruction
- The five keys of evidence-based literacy instruction
- Key research-based models and concepts in reading acquisition including the Simple View of Reading and the Reading Brain
- The latest research on synthetic phonics instruction
Delivery mode
Presentations are available to schools via videoconference or on-site, depending on availability and travel restrictions. Delivered in a 90-minute format, this seminar is ideal for schools who would like to learn more about the theoretical and scientific evidence for best practice reading instruction.
Seminar 2
Deep Dive into Systematic Synthetic Phonics
- 120-minute information session for teachers and school-based professionals
- Gain insight into the alphabetic code and evidence-based instruction in automatic word reading
- Delivered by specialists in reading instruction, with content development led by Dr Jennifer Buckingham
- Offered as a public event or via school-based bookings
- Community education initiative of MultiLit
To gain meaning from print, students need accurate and fluent word recognition combined with good language comprehension. Systematic synthetic phonics, as part of a comprehensive program of instruction that contains all five ‘keys’ to reading, is the most efficient way to teach all children skilled word recognition. This seminar does a ‘deep dive’ into effective instruction in decoding and automaticity.

Who should attend
This seminar is suitable for F-6 classroom and specialist teachers, school executive, and support staff as it examines the development of students from beginning to skilled readers.
What the seminar covers
This information session is designed to give teachers and other school-based professionals practical information and advice regarding effective reading instruction in word recognition that will help all children learn to read.
The session examines:
- The research basis for systematic synthetic phonics
- Approaches to phonics – not all phonics instruction is equally effective
- Key concepts of the alphabetic principle
- Orthographic mapping
- Instructional strategies to maximise learning
- Characteristics of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programs
- Systematic synthetic phonics in practice within the Response to Intervention model
Delivery mode
Presentations are available to schools via videoconference or on-site, depending on availability and travel restrictions. Delivered in a 120-minute format, this seminar is ideal for schools who would like to learn more about the alphabetic code and how to deliver instruction using evidence-based methods for beginning and low progress readers.
Seminar 3
Reading Fluency: Evidence-based Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention
- 60-minute information session for teachers and school-based professionals
- Learn about the scientific research on reading fluency and evidence-based instruction
- Delivered by specialists in reading instruction, with content development led by Dr Jennifer Buckingham
- Offered as a public event or via school-based bookings
- Community education initiative of MultiLit
When students are reading fluently – accurately, at a good pace, and with appropriate expression – they are more able to understand what they are reading. Fluency has a very strong relationship with reading comprehension and that is why it is so important to include evidence-based fluency instruction in reading lessons.

Who should attend
This seminar is suitable for F-6 classroom and specialist teachers, school executive, and support staff as it examines the development of students from beginning to skilled readers.
What the seminar covers
This information session is designed to give teachers and other school-based professionals practical information and advice regarding effective reading instruction in word recognition that will help all children learn to read.
The session examines:
- The research basis for reading fluency and its component skills
- Evidence-based instruction for whole class, small groups, and one-to-one
- Valid and reliable fluency assessments
- Fluency and struggling readers
Delivery mode
Delivered in a 60-minute format, this seminar is ideal for teachers and other educators who would like to learn more about reading fluency and how to develop it in students using evidence-based methods.